Thank you! You very concisely explained why I now try to avoid any kind of estrogen or estrogen-mimicking substances. I'm not militant about it because...well, that way leads madness, but I try to be mindful of what I'm putting into/on my body now. Stupid BC!

Eh, I had treatment for ER and PR positive breast cancer, so I'll just strive to stay away from any form of estrogen. I mean, why put any kind of estrogen in my body when I nightly take a medication to block my naturally produced estrogen from certain tissues in my body. Yes, my avoidance may not make one lick of…

Congrats on finishing those 18 rounds of chemo! I went through 16 last year (starting almost exactly a year ago). I asked my oncologist about boosters before I started and she didn't think it was important. I wonder what she'd think now with these outbreaks. In any case, I did make sure it to get my flu shot.

A he? Interesting and unusual. Just in case you didn't know: calico males are very rare because the calico coloring mutation is on the X chromosome.

EEEEEeee! Your kitty looks very similar to mine. Mine is also a dilute calico. Her body is all white but her has a patch of grey and a patch of light orange/tan around one ear. Like your kitty, her nose is also pink and grey/black. Oh, and my kitty has a grey, light orange/tan and white ringed tail.

This is pretty similar to what I did. There were a couple of bridal dress places in my city that had the dress that I found online. I went to the place and tried it on and then went online and bought at the store that was selling it the cheapest. I paid about $300 which was $200 cheaper than what the brick and…

6 o'clock. Huh. I wonder if my recurring tear I get at the bottom of the opening (which I would imagine is 6 o'clock) is a fissure. It keeps re-tearing and it sucks. I've been wondering if I could just get that permanently fixed.

BTW, I've personally always known I've had the flu from how it starts. With the flu it comes on strong by hitting me out of nowhere with extreme exhaustion/fatigue. Colds over come on over a day or two starting with either a sore throat or slight congestion.

I think the biggest obstacle when debating the flu shot naysayers is that the vast majority of these naysayers don't know the difference between cold and flu viruses. Colds can certainly suck because they can keep you in bed for a few days to over a week. They can give you a mild fever and some aches along with…

Yeah! What an ugly school!

Throw in a few chiropractic adjustments and you're invincible!

Ouch! They're burning off the last season. That sucks. :-(

Exactly! Projecting some nefarious or disingenuous motivation on people who are otherwise outwardly behaving in a positive manner is not helping. It's just drives a wedge in and builds a perception of us vs. them. Why do that?

It killed Jim Henson. :-(

The Sawbones podcast recently did an episode about the history of the flu. They went into this Spanish Flu history. It was all very fascinating. And now I want force flu vaccine deniers to listen to this particular podcast episode.

Yikes, I'm sorry. I heard somewhere that this year's flu shot is not going to be as effective because the strain that's turned out to be prominent is not one covered by this vaccine.

And in addition to cassiebear's point, there are some strains of the flu that young to middle aged adults are susceptible to. This is what happened with the H1N1 strain. Previous to that deadly 2009 outbreak the guidelines pushed flu vaccines for only the very young and old, but then this outbreak happened. Now the…

Oh god, thank you! There are so many otherwise smart people in my life who buy into this shit fully. Our bodies are pretty amazing machines. Why not give it its proper due and believe that it's taking care of the "detoxing" on its own. Also, "detoxing" is dangerous. Don't be stupid. Don't do it.

Have you heard some of the extended pieces they've released of Meryl singing? It wasn't bad at all - she actually had a powerful belt. I'm actually optimistic. And hell, I think she (at least in what's been released so far) sounds better than Phylicia Rashad in the Tony Awards video Madeleine posted in the comments…

I *heart* this so much! Is the singing flawless? No, but as beautiful and technically difficult Sondheim's songs are, many are meant to emphasize character over perfect musicality. I enjoy the hell out of this performance and it's just a recording. I can't wait to see the actual performance.